


twisting allegories

by annabetncnase



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, annabeth is very emo, there is jasiper because technically theyre together but its not mentioned at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:22:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23094001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabetncnase/pseuds/annabetncnase
Summary: Annabeth meets Percy in New Rome, and he doesn't remember. Or so it seems.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 162
Collections: favorite on PJO





	twisting allegories

**Author's Note:**

> okay so basically i wrote this because i like making myself suffer and it's also very self-indulgent but i kinda like the way it turned out.  
> leo isn't there because he's stupid so they made him stay in the ship
> 
> title from panic! at the disco's far too young to die

_Does he remember?_

Annabeth’s ear were ringing as they followed a lower-rank soldier to an an important-looking building in New Rome.

_Does he remember?_

Piper squeezed her hand reassuringly once, sensing her stress. Jason looked around nervously.

_Does he remember?_

Annabeth didn’t know. She’d prayed to all the gods she could think of, asked Rachel a million questions, overanalyzed her dreams, and she still didn’t know. She’d soon be in the same room as him without knowing if he knew who she was.

 _Praetor Percy Jackson_ , their guide had said. She didn’t mention it, but that meant he had taken Jason’s position. Annabeth wasn’t surprised. Her boyfriend - if he was still that - was a natural leader.

_The Praetors will meet you at the General Office. They’re expecting you._

In that sentence, Annabeth looked for a sign that Percy was expecting her, specifically, and found none. Every step she took towards their destination weighed a million pounds, but she proceeded.

The officer led them up a majestic round flight of stairs, which led them to a large room with wide windows and a tall ceiling. If it wasn’t nighttime, the sun would illuminate the room beautifully.

Annabeth looked at her peers, Piper observed the room nervously, and Jason stood quietly. He knew what was about to happen, but for the first time, he wouldn’t be in control of it.

He’d explained everything to them.

“Diplomatic meetings happen in the Globe Room, in the General Office. Since we’re so shut off, we rarely use it. It’s usually for meetings with fauns or former campers. The first encounter is just a formality, so we’re both familiar with what we’re dealing with. They’ll probably show you around and we’ll sit down for meetings tomorrow. It’s all very formal and planned, so be careful.”

Annabeth knew the “be careful” was directed at her, but Jason was too much of a gentleman to say it outright. She knew she’d have to calculate every reaction precisely. Fortunately, she’d been doing that her entire life.

A door on the opposite end of the room opened, and the two praetors walked in.

Annabeth’s heart started racing more than it had been in the past hour, adrenaline flowing through her veins. Percy looked taller, more tan and muscular. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, which was definitely an odd combination for a formal meeting, but then again, it was Percy. He was talking to Reyna, who Annabeth recognized from Jason’s descriptions. He took a quick look at the group in front of him, then went back to his conversation.

Every step he took without acknowledging her existence shattered her heart into smaller shards, puncturing her lungs and stealing her breath. She almost didn’t feel Piper’s hand squeeze her arm, calling her attention to the matter at hands.

Reyna and Percy stopped a couple of feet away from Annabeth, closer to him than she’d been in months.

“Welcome to New Rome,” Reyna announced. “I am Reyna, and this is my partner, Percy. We are glad to have you in our home. Jason, welcome back.”

“Reyna, Percy. These are my colleagues, Piper and Annabeth,” Jason began. “It’s great to be back. We are looking forward to having a great conversation with you about how a productive partnership between Greeks and Romans can take place.”

“So are we,” Percy responded with a smile.

Reyna shook Piper’s hand, then Annabeth’s. She knew Percy was next.

When their hands touched, she felt a rush of electricity fly up her arm. She forced her eyes to meet his, trying as hard as she could to not show emotion. She found his were fixed on her face, more intense than she’d ever seen them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Annabeth,” Percy said, then nodded, slightly but sharply. One, two, three times.

She knew that look. _He knows._

“The pleasure is mine,” she nodded back, once.

She let go of his hand, letting her eyes linger for another moment.

“Now that we’ve been properly introduced,” Reyna said, shaking Annabeth out of her trance, “we’d like to have you over for dinner with our legionnaires. A proper roman feast.”

“Sounds great!” Piper said.

As they started walking, Piper shot Annabeth a look. _Are you okay?_

She just nodded. Gods knew she would trust Piper with her life, but she didn’t know if it was safe to let her know just yet. She didn’t know what it all meant.

The walk to dinner was quite a long one. At one point, Piper and Jason were walking next to Reyna. Very discreetly, Percy slowed his pace to walk with Annabeth.

When she was sure the rest of the group was out of earshot, Annabeth whispered: “Percy.”

They didn’t look at each other, but he responded immediately. “Just a little longer. I have a plan, I promise.”

And Annabeth hated not knowing what the plan was, but this was the worst occasion of all to be in the dark. She just wanted to know something, anything. She felt completely powerless.

“Let’s make small talk,” Percy whispered again.

He was right. For possible allies getting to know each other, silence was also suspicious. However, knowing he knew who she was, it was much easier to talk.

“How’s the weather been down here?” She asked.

“You know, the usual. Very hot. What about New York? Still rainy?”

“Very.”

They went on like that for the rest of the walk. Every once in a while, Percy would let their hands brush against each other, and Annabeth felt better.

* * *

Dinner was long, and Annabeth’s nerves didn’t allow her to eat anything. She hoped she didn’t offend her hosts. Percy sat diagonally from her, which was probably a good choice. Having him too close would make the pit in her stomach even deeper. She tried not to watch him too intensely - the way his hands closed around the fork, how his hair was positively longer and he kept sweeping it off his face, the way he’d look at Jason, who explained Camp Half Blood to Percy as if he didn’t already know twice as much.

Feast over, introductions done, it was time for their tour of Camp Jupiter to begin. It was late, but it was better that way, Reyna said. Less people walking around, getting in the way. Annabeth looked at Percy, trying to send him a discreet look. She hoped this would be when his plan would begin.

“Reyna, why don’t you take Jason and Piper, and I’ll take Annabeth? She told me she likes architecture, so I thought I’d show her the Senate offices. It’s too late for them to be working, so we won’t bother anyone.”

And there was his plan. Gods, he was good with this. Annabeth almost believed him herself. Reyna didn’t seem to think much of it. “Sounds good. We’ll meet back here in an hour?”

“Perfect,” Percy replied, then turned to Annabeth. “This way, please.”

She followed him back into the way they came from.

“The Senate is one of the oldest buildings here,” he explained, as they walked past roaming campers. “My friend Dakota will tell you all about it if you’re interested.”

“Sounds great,” she played along. She was almost impressed at her own self-control, given the fact that she was technically alone with Percy now. “I’ve been looking for inspiration for a project I’m working on.”

“Really? What’s that?”

“Mount Olympus.”

“That’s impressive. Where is it, exactly?”

“The Empire State Building.”

“Interesting. I’d love to visit sometime.”

“I can take you. I have a feeling you’d feel right at home.”

They reached a street corner with a very large, imposing building. Annabeth recognized the Roman architecture, the pillars and domes. Percy was right, she thought it was beautiful.

Percy pulled a plastic card out of his pocket and tapped into a metal triangle on the wall next to the doors, which then opened. Inside stood another large set of doors, which Annabeth assumed would lead to the Senate. However, Percy led her to a small hallway on the right. The walls were lined with doors with the senators’ names, presumably their offices. The building was empty, as he’d predicted, but he gave her a look that said _not yet._

Percy chose a room a few doors down from the beginning of the hall, one that did not have a name on it. He tapped in the same card and opened the door, revealing a basically empty office, with only a desk and a chair. She stepped in and turned to him, who looked around the hall, then entered the room.

She was scared to move. Was this it? Could he finally be himself now? Her heart was beating a million times a minute. He closed the door, almost in slow motion.

The minute his hand left the handle, he turned to her and said, “Annabeth.” His eyes told her everything she needed to know.

Annabeth finally gave in to her instincts and threw herself into his arms. The tears she’d been holding back all day now streamed freely down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his neck, much taller than they’d been eight months before, and the realization that she missed seeing his height greatly surpass hers stung.

She let go of him just enough to kiss him. He kissed her back, deeply, to try to make up for even a fraction of the lost time. It did not, but she so wanted to. She waited until she ran out of air, until her lips were numb, to let him go. Then, she just touched her forehead to his, taking in his presence. _He’s here._

She didn’t know how much time passed before he spoke.

“Annabeth, I’m so sorry,” Percy whispered. His voice was broken.

“Don’t be.”

“But I am. I’m sorry for today. I hate this so much.”

“Yeah, I hate it too.”

He smiled, and gods, she’d missed that smile.

“I missed you so much, so much,” she told him.

“I missed you so much, all the time.”

“Well, you didn’t really know who I was for most of it, so that probably helped.”

He tilted his head.

“What? Of course I knew who you were.”

“Didn’t you lose your memory?”

“Most of it. Not you, though,” his voice was soft, and he brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. “I always remembered you. Only you.”

Annabeth was at a loss for words. He’d remembered _her_ , out of everything in his life? Not his mother, not his friends? Only her?

She pressed her lips to his once more, hoping to express everything she wanted to tell him, but couldn’t. She thought he understood.

“I love you,” Percy told her. Well, he had always been better with words than her.

“I love you,” she said, and hugged his waist, burying her face in his chest. She just wanted to feel his warmth for just a few more moments before facing the dire reality.

“Percy,” she called, stepping out of his space. “What is happening? What are we going to do?”

“They don’t know I’m Greek. There’s a few guys here that really hate us, I had to really put some work into convincing the senate to let you guys come. I know this allyship is important to defeat whatever the fuck the problem is this time, so I had to play their game for a while.”

“Do they think you’re Roman?”

“I’m not sure. I think they have mixed feelings about me. Reyna definitely knows something is up, but she trusts me.”

“So what are you going to do? You can’t just tell them you’ve been lying this whole time.”

“Well, now that Jason is here, they’ll understand the memory loss thing better, so we can play into that. Say I got my memories back.”

“Don’t they already know about your memory loss?”

“Yeah, but they don’t know why. And I never said anything about you, so they won’t associate it with anything.”

“Jason is here now. He can help. Doesn’t he have lots of friends here?”

“Yeah, mostly. The people who hate Greece don’t like him that much either, but he’s got more allies than enemies.”

“Maybe he should know.”

“Do you trust him?”

“I trust him enough. And Piper can help too. She is amazing, I think you two will get along.”

He smiled. “Looking forward to it.” He pressed a light kiss to her cheek. “We should go. I don’t think an hour long visit to this building is believable.”

“Fine. Where are we going next?”

“I don’t know. My brain is kinda fuzzy right now.”

“Given the fact that it is made of seaweed, I am not surprised.”

“Never gets old, does it?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. Maybe I’ll show you the Library. I haven’t actually been inside, so I guess I’ll be visiting too.”

“Shocking. And how long would a library visit take, would you say?”

“I don’t know, like ten to fifteen minutes?”

“We can work with that.”

She squeezed his hand one last time and walked out of the room, following outside the building like she’d just heard a mildly interesting story about Roman warfare.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it! i'm aware there is room for a less dramatic conclusion to this but idk if i should write it, lmk what you all think  
> chat w me on tumblr @annabetncnase


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